A Great Falls teacher was charged last month with forgery and identity theft for allegedly using a friend's credit card account information to spend thousands of dollars.

Prosecutors filed the felony charges against Debra Kay Thomas, a 6th grade teacher at Whittier Elementary School according to the school district's directory, on Jan. 25.

Thomas was immediately placed on administrative leave after school district officials became aware she had been arrested, according to a news release from Superintendent Tammy Lacey's office. The district began an internal investigation into the matter on Friday.

"If true, these charges are very concerning and certainly do not represent the conduct expected of any GFPS employee," the statement said.

According to court documents, Thomas took a $3,500 loan from a friend in July 2016 and agreed to make payments on the friend's credit card. After receiving the friend's credit card information, Thomas allegedly charged thousands more to the account than the agreed loan amount.

The friend reached out to police when Thomas did not respond to attempts to reach her, according to court documents, and said she never gave Thomas permission to put her name on the account.

Thomas reportedly told a Great Falls Police detective she was authorized to put her name on the account, and that there was no agreement on repayments to the account.

According to court documents, bank records showed Thomas stopped making payments to the account in December 2016, shortly after she switched the statement address to her own address. By January 2017, the credit card account had a balance of more than $8,000, court documents state.

Court documents do not illustrate how Thomas allegedly spent the money.

Court documents state the woman and Thomas had been friends for 30 years, so the woman did not question Thomas when she requested her personal information.